Swiss Voters Of All Ages Support Online Gambling Ban

Voters classified to different age groups in Switzerland showed no significant difference in the way they voted in regards to a proposed ban being placed on the offshore services of casinos online.

A published report by VOTO, an organization that is tasked with compiling studies on citizen's views following each government referendum in the company, shows that Swiss Nationals of all ages agreed that unauthorized offshore companies should not be allowed to offer gambling services online in their country. It is the belief of many that these companies have long been exploitative of legal loopholes in an effort to target Swiss customers.

The Federal Council approved the Swiss Money Gaming Act and the new laws associated with the act will go into effect on the first day of 2019. The Gaming act makes it legal for only companies that offer authorized land-based casinos in Switzerland to provide online gambling services. Internet service providers in the country will be required to block access to unauthorized foreign casinos.

There were calls for a referendum from youth organizations that collected signatures to demonstrate support for their request and argued that The Gaming Act was unjust because it violated rights of free transport of services.

The poll by VOTO was taken a month ago and demonstrated that 72.9 of Swiss voters approved of the ban. As noted before, there was no significant difference in voter's opinions due to age as 74 percent of voters between 18-29 approved of the ban, 77 percent of citizens over 60 expressed their support, and among voters 30-39, a 61 percent majority voted in favor of the law.

Lawmakers in Switzerland will now be obligated to provide another piece of legislation that will provide the guidelines for how laws regarding online gambling services will be enforced once the Gaming Act becomes the law of the land next year.

It is important to note that while the Gaming Act is intended to keep online casinos operating internationally from doing business with Swiss citizens, it does allow for companies that supply products and services related to gaming to partner with authorized Swiss casinos to provide products to Swiss customers.

Local media reports state, however, that foreign companies wishing to partner with Swiss casinos may have trouble doing so because the Federal Council is thinking of adding a provision that would make it mandatory for a company to show five years of good reputation' before such a partnership could be considered. Good reputation in Switzerland would mean that a company has not provided services to the Swiss market for a five-year period and it is unlikely that any of the major companies could meet that criteria.